Hello, I am using TOG for the first time this year. I find the writing portion confusing and overwhelming. I have looked at the sample writing for MFW and love how organized it appears. I like that it appears to cover all the types of writing assignments we have never done. TOG has English thrown in with it and it that makes it even more complicated for me. I know I can ignore it since we are using something else but I would just like to be able to open a writing curriculum and teach it and cover all the different types of writing. Is TOG as easy as MFW appears to be? Am I just missing it? Is MFW easy and can you get their writing program separately and, if so, would it work with TOG?

Thank you for both posts! I am going to implement the binder idea. Today!

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I would like to keep track of my children's grades some where. Daily homework and tests and labs, all that. For anyone else who does this, where do you keep them? I have recently purchased Homeschool Tracker but have not had time to go through that whole 300 page manual to figure it out. I want to be able to write the grade down now. The homeschool record-keeping books I have purchased so far aren't what I want. Rod and Staff is for 30 students with tiny little spaces and 8 week breaks. The Well-Planned day has a place only for a weekly grade. The Homeschool High-School Journal also doesn't seem to have enough space to record if it's a test, a lab, homework. What do the rest of you do?

We are doing R & S 7th grade English this year. I am not having trouble teaching it but I am wondering with all this diagramming if it is a waste of our time? When do you ever need it? Is it on the SAT or ACT tests? I have 4 children and I teach this level to an 8th grader and a 6th grader in order to save time. I teach 4 levels of math and another level of R & S. We also do R & S spelling. Most days we don't even get to history or science. I was given the IEW program, dvd's and all! I never have time to get to it. Wondering if I am using my time to the best advantage? What do you think? Kathy

Thank you so much for explaining this to me. My daughter did do Saxon 76. She has used Saxon from the beginning and does very well in math. We will move on to Algebra 1 next year when she is a freshman. Thanks again, Kathy

I just read in the WTM that Saxon 87 is a "bridge" for students who struggle a little in math and it sounds like we should be using Algebra 1/2 this year instead in order to get in enough geometry to take the PSAT test her junior year. My daughter is in the 8th grade and doing 87. She does very good in math but we just had a year, a few years back, that we got behind in school over all. I just continue to follow the order of Saxon not knowing any different. Am I understand correctly about 87 being a bridge? Should I move her to Algebra 1/2 now? Thanks for your help, Kathy